The Stars' Acceptance
by Moony1972
Summary: Remus Lupin was suffering after Sirius Black died, leaving himself as the last Marauder. The night of, he watches the stars, remembering the time where he and his friends were accepted into the Order. He remembers what it felt like to be accepted...One shot.


**A/N: Hola! This is just a random story that popped up in my head uninvited after reading OotP for the millionth and first time. I do hope that you enjoy it. **

**It's weird, because this story was supposed to be about 800 words. I guess I just got a little carried away.**

**Disclaimer: Well, if I were JK Rowling, why would I write a short story after reading one of my own books for the millionth and first time? And if that logic was not clear enough, I AM NOT JK ROWLING! So...don't sue me...**

THE STARS' ACCEPTANCE

Remus stared out the window at the clear night sky, and the crescent moon that sat amongst the stars. The stars. The stars which one more had been added to not too long ago. He closed his eyes, remembering the days the stars were there on Earth, when they had fun, when they had at last achieved a dream to fight in the war.

* * *

Sirius, Remus, Peter, James, and his wife Lily were all waiting together in a dark room. They were alone in this dark room. They were not doing anything odd, as one would suspect teenager to take part in, in this room. They were merely waiting before introducing themselves to the legendary Order of the Phoenix, which, before two weeks ago, the five had only thought of to be a legend. However, Albus Dumbledore - the headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, AKA the Greatest Wizard Ever - had indeed summoned to five to this real group that would work together in order to defeat Voldemort.

The five had gone through a lot at school, but apparently, their loyalty towards Dumbledore and hatred against Voldemort had always shone through. Therefore, these five were the ideal candidates to be recruited to Dumbledore's group. This was, in fact, one of the best days in James and Sirius' life, but Remus always figured it was the worst. This could be because it was he who had to deal with a group of uncontrollable, drunken Marauders. Nonetheless, the five had all accepted their invitation into the Order and were now awaiting the opportunity to introduce themselves to the rest of the Order.

However, Dumbledore requested that the five all introduce themselves one by one, to make sure that the Order did not get overwhelmed. Lily had predicted that much of the Order would do double takes when they learned that they would have to deal with the four Marauders together once more. Lily came to the conclusion that the only person that the Order would be pleased to learn had been accepted would be her, but she was not about to let that get to her head.

Lily also reckoned that it was a bad idea to leave the five of them to decide what order they would be introducing themselves in. No one wanted to go last, no one wanted to go first, no one wanted to go on their own. It was a very terrible dilemma.

"Fine, then, Prongs," Sirius said, crossing his arms. "If you or I aren't going first, then who do you propose should go?"

"Moony!" Peter announced, completely out of turn.

"I am _not_ going first," Remus growled, glaring at his chubby buddy.

James grinned, "I don't need Moony to go first, Wormtail, but thanks for the suggestion. I say, I'd propose for Miss Lily Evans to go first. It'll only be the right thing for the proper gentleman to do. Ladies first is the - what the hell are you laughing at?"

Sirius, Remus, and Peter had fallen to the ground in laughter, oblivious to the last part of James' speech. Lily, however, did not seem very pleased and slapped James upside the head.

"OW! Damnit, Lil - oh," James finished lamely.

Lily glared dangerously at James.

"Oh is right, _Potter_."

"Augh, Lils, I'm sorry!"

Lily's face broke out into a grin. "It's fine, James...I would love to go first though. That would be very gentlemanly of you."

James beamed at the compliment while Sirius and Remus snickered.

"All right, then. If Lily _Potter _- there, I said it - goes first, then I vouch to go second. I don't want to leave Lily in a room full of men." James suddenly started to blush when he realized what he had said aloud.

Lily rolled her eyes at James' antics. "For Merlin's sake, James. I'm _married_ to you. I'm not planning on cheating on you."

"Yeah, I know," James mumbled sheepishly.

Sirius grinned. "I wouldn't want to stay away from this drama for the _world_! I'll go after Prongs, to make sure that I don't miss any important somethings."

Remus cocked an eyebrow. "What are you thinking is going to happen in the course of five minutes that this introduction will take?" Sirius opened his mouth, but Remus interrupted. "Hang on. I don't think I want to know."

Lily smiled warmly at Remus, "Thank Merlin that your sanity has been preserved. I was beginning to wonder."

Remus laughed. "Okay, then, I'll go after Padfoot, that way I can be your knights in shining armour and save you from the evil mutt!"

James looked affronted, but only seemed to focus on one part of Remus' heroic speech.

"I don't need a knight in shining armour! I already am one!"

"And your mine," Lily said, clutching onto James' arm and prove a point.

"Okay, then," Remus said, eager to change topics before James and Lily went all mushy on them. "So I'll go fourth and Wormtail'll go fifth."

"I don't want to go last," Peter said softly. "I don't want to be left all alone."

The occupants of the dark closet went quiet and stared at Peter, unsure of what to say.

"Er, all right, then, Wormtail," Remus finally said. "I can be alone and go last."

"Thanks, Moony!" Peter said gratefully.

The five of them then proceeded to stand quietly in the room, not moving an inch. Suddenly, they heard a familiar angry voice.

"MARAUDERS! GET A MOVE ON!" she shouted. The Marauders and Lily could almost hear the smoke flying out of the person's nose.

"No probs, Minnie!" Sirius called back, grinning.

The five heard some incoherent mutterings before Lily opened the door.

"Hello, Professor," she greeted politely.

"Oh, and Miss Ev - sorry, Miss Potter, dear! I am so pleased," McGonagall said, letting out one of those rare smiles. "Professor Dumbledore will announce you, and you can say something about yourself."

Lily smiled and nodded confidently. She stood outside the doorway, waiting for Dumbledore's announcement.

There was none. The room was silent.

"Er...Professor?" Lily called. "I'm, er, here..."

"Ah, yes, Miss Potter," Dumbledore said, stroking his beard. "Come in." He then turned to face the Order, who had all turned around and watched the young red head stand in the back of the room. "This is Lily Potter."

Lily let out a cheery wave and a small curtsey. She could see many friendly faces smiling at her, many seeming happy to see her there.

"Hi, I'm Lily, pleasure to meet you!" she said, grinning. "I'm Muggle-born, and I'm proud to say that I'm going to join the cause in defeating the evil overlord!"

She curtseyed again as the audience applauded, and Dumbledore motioned for her to sit down at an empty table, surrounded by five chairs.

"And next," he called, loud enough that the people outside the doorway could hear. "I welcome..."

"It's James," Lily whispered.

"...James Potter!" Dumbledore continued, as if he had never paused.

James ran into the room, blew some of his famous kisses, and bowed low to the ground, waving his hands as the crowd applauded.

"Hey," James said, running his hand through his trademark hair. "I'm James! I play Quidditch. I am Chaser. I am now aware that the Chudley Canons are awful. I am aware of my extraordinary looks and charm. I have only one warning. I am a Marauder."

Lily rolled her eyes as the crowd clapped politely, although a couple of students who had gone to Hogwarts when the Marauders had been there checked their surroundings nervously.

Before Dumbledore could announce the next inductee, he had already run in and started to do a victory lap around the room.

"Sirius Black, at your service!" he announced proudly, holding his head up in a smug manner.

The crowd started to murmur amongst themselves.

"A Black?"

"The trustworthy one!"

"Potter's mate."

"Gryffindor..."

"Smart."

"Blimey, he's mighty fine looking? Is he single?"

Of course, Sirius managed to hear the last statement and grinned broadly. Lily groaned. This could not be good for Sirius' ego.

"Ah, yes, I'm Sirius Black, ready to bring some life to the party and doom to my family - that means the death eaters! So let's hear it for me! Sirius Black, an honour it is for you to have me here!"

The crowd laughed as Sirius bounced over to sit next to James. James was busy calming Lily down, who seemed to be cursing every single Order member along with one Sirius Black.

"And next is..." Dumbledore said, pausing for effect.

Unfortunately, the next inductee peeped his head through the doorway in a manner which he seemed to think was discreet and called out, rather loudly, "Am I on yet, Professor?"

Dumbledore sat back down, defeated and annoyed that he had yet failed to announce an Order inductee formally.

"Well, I'm, er, Peter Pettigrew, I am cool. And this is my best mate, Scabbers," Peter said timidly, pulling out a brown rat that resembled Peter's Animagus form rather well.

Peter received a couple amused chuckles and a loud applause as he went to sit down. His cheeks were red, but he seemed to look rather pleased with himself. Sirius, however, was muttering obscenities under his breath, apparently excessively disappointed that he had been replaced by a rat.

"I'm sorry, Pads," Peter muttered. "But, hey, at least you're not replaced. I replaced Prongs and Moony. You weren't up there to replace."

Sirius scowled at Peter, but his eyes showed his amusement.

"And last, but certainly not least, Mr Remus Lupin!" Dumbledore called, looking very smug when Remus walked into the room in a civilized manner.

"Hello," Remus said, giving a small smile. "I, as Dumbles just said, am Remus Lupin, and I am so pleased to be here to assist you in the fight against the Dark Lord. Defense has always been my favourite subject, I can't wait to use it in my everyday life."

The crowd gave a polite applause; Remus' speech wasn't nearly as thrilling as the four that had just occurred. That is, of course, until Dumbledore started to speak and motioned Remus to keep standing up front.

"There is one other thing about Mr Lupin," Dumbledore said. "Mr Lupin is a werewolf."

Remus glared at Dumbledore. He had no right to just announce his biggest, deepest, darkest secret like that! Remus just stood there and watched the hatred grow into many of the Order's eyes. Everyone except for his four closest friends were starting to stare at Remus with disgust, and started to protest.

"We can't have a werewolf in the Order!"

"Dumbledore's gone bonkers!"

"A monster!"

"A spy for You-Know-Who!"

"Evil!"

"A beast!"

"He deserves to die!"

"Don't let him in!"

"SHUT UP!" James yelled, standing on top of his chair. "Shut up! Dumbledore, how dare you?"

Remus gave James a look that told him plainly to sit down.

"Defend yourself, Moony!" Sirius exclaimed, looking at the silent, calm Remus in horror.

The insults continued to be fired at Remus, who stood there, motionless, taking in every word that came out of the Order member's mouths.

"I'll quit if I have to work near the monster!"

"Send him away!"

"Get the Ministry!"

"A traitor in our midst!"

"He's uncontrollable!" one voice yelled, one that Remus knew as Frank Longbottom. "He loses his temper _all the time_!"

The insults eventually died down, however, majority of the Order members had their wands pulled out and pointed them at Remus. Remus managed to still look calm and collected in the face of the extreme danger. He put his hands up in defense while James, Sirius, Peter, and Lily were giving the Order and Dumbledore murderous looks, but were being silenced by Remus' glare. Even McGonagall was breathing heavily, glaring at all the people in the room.

"I get it," Remus said quietly. "I'm a werewolf. There's a possibility that I could be a spy for the Dark Lord-"

"He says 'Dark Lord'!" one of the members pointed out, narrowing her eyes at Remus. "Only Death Eaters call him that."

Remus took a deep breath. "Yes. I say that. But I could call him anything: You-Know-Who, He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, The Dark Lord, Tom Riddle, Lord Voldemort, Voldy, Mouldyshorts...I could go on. That doesn't mean I'm a Death Eater.

"And I won't deny that I am a werewolf, who does indeed grow into a Dark monster every month."

The rest of the Marauders banged their hands on the table in distaste.

"He's a spy! He thinks he can buy us over with this innocent charade!" Alice Longbottom, another person Remus knew rather well, called out, pulling out her wand.

"I can assure you," Remus said calmly. "That I am not a spy for Voldemort."

"And, what, _pray tell_, would a spy for Voldemort say?" Alice asked, sounding rather cruel and menacing.

"He would probably say the same thing," Remus said, keeping his voice even.

"And therefore, what my wife is trying to say," Frank said, snarling. "Is that you are more than likely a spy for Voldemort, as a werewolf."

"Yeah, Moony!" Sirius wolf-called from his seat. "Show him that Dark Mark you own!"

The entire Order widened their eyes while Sirius and Remus chuckled.

"What Sirius is trying to convey is that I have no Dark Mark to show you, thus that would show that despite my lycanthropy being against me, I am not a spy for Voldemort."

Marlene McKinnon, another girl who had went to Hogwarts during the reign of the Marauders, stood up in her chair.

"All that is swell, _Lupin_, but we all know You-Know-Who is prejudiced. He would not brand someone he views below wizarding status with the Dark Mark, which is a supposed honour to achieve."

McGonagall continued to breathe heavily through her nose in anger, but, despite this being for his sake, Remus was finding it rather difficult to focus. He had to multitask, trying to keep calm and come up with retorts and ignore the angry murmurs, along with trying to glare at his friends to get them to stop punching the table.

"So," Remus said finally. "Nothing I can say will change your opinion about me being a spy for Voldemort, and this conclusion was achieved because I am a werewolf?"

"YES, you stinking monster, YES," a girl called Hestia Jones said from the back.

"Might I remind you that I achieved top grades in Defense Against The Dark Arts throughout all my years at school?"

It was starting to seem as if the Order had had this conversation many times before, seeing as they were able to come up with retorts for any comment Remus would say.

"Only because you studied the Dark Arts closely, and understood them, and it is merely a facade you play in order to try and make the prior argument," a guy sitting in the back called Benjy Fenwick said.

"Guys, shut up!" James yelled, standing back up in his chair.

"Prongs, sit down," Remus said through gritted teeth.

"Then defend yourself, you idiot!"

"James," Remus said warningly, glaring at the bespectacled boy.

James sat back down, however, Remus' glare did not serve well with the rest of the Order.

"Did you see that, Dumbledore? The monster behind his eyes!" Frank yelled, stepping backwards but not letting his wand point leave Remus.

"Guys, really?" Remus asked, starting to sound tired. "I know you want me to leave, but I won't. Dumbledore trusts me. And that should be good enough."

Hestia Jones lowered her wand and slumped back into her seat, starting to focus intently on Remus.

"How many of you are purebloods or half-bloods?" Remus asked.

A lot of the Order seemed confused by this random statement, but majority of them raised up their hands. Dumbledore gave Remus a knowing and encouraging smile.

"Wow. All of you could be spies for Voldemort. He'd accept you."

"We don't have the Dark Mark," someone pointed out, seeming insulted that they had just been referred to as a Death Eater.

"Ah," Remus said knowingly, stepping closer to Frank. "But I seriously doubt Voldemort would brand it to a spy; it would be much to easy to pick a traitor out of a group, wouldn't it?"

A couple more members lowered their wands, but kept their watch on Remus.

"We all have a common goal. It is for that reason we're meeting here today," Remus continued. "We are all on a mission to fight Voldemort. We want him gone. It does not do to fight amongst ourselves. If we stay busy on trivial intersided fights, Voldemort will have a direct route to power. We'd have no chance. We should all unite over a common enemy, that is Voldemort, and only when he is defeated should be go back to focusing on petty matters such as monsters.

"And besides, what are we all here to fight against? Why are we fighting? What is Voldemort's goal? He wishes to purge the world of all those whom he considers to be less than the pureblooded wizard or witch. Half-breeds would fall in that category. If I didn't know any better, I would not be able to tell whether you all are Death Eaters; you seemed so ready to jump at my throat once you were informed that I was a werewolf. Isn't that exactly what Voldemort is doing?"

Many of the Order members looked down at the floor sheepishly, and remained silent. Lily gave Remus an encouraging thumbs up.

"We may not have advantage in numbers, but we have advantage in loyalty and determination. All of us here want to be rid of Voldemort. So, why don't we unite? Instead of putting those who support our beliefs down, let us raise them to our level, let them fight, and together, we can be rid of the Dark Lord forever. We shouldn't care about one's background, or their pet peeves. We should forget our past, and focus only on our desire for a better world tomorrow.

"So...who's with me?"

The room let out a thunderous applause, and many of the people who had their wands raised dropped them, instead starting a standing ovation. Soon, the occupants of the room grew silent, save for only one voice. Frank Longbottom.

"That's it?"

Remus glanced over to his friends, who shrugged, before nodding.

"You're going to fight Voldemort with us?"

Remus nodded again.

"You're a werewolf?"

"Yes, I, er, yes, I am. And," Remus looked over to Sirius, who was watching Remus hopefully. "This one is for Sirius, but...I'm fanged and I'm proud. I'm fanged and I'm proud! And together, we're going to fight Voldemort!"

Many Order members burst out into laughter; Remus had even got McGonagall to grin. Remus, feeling much better about himself than he had before, ran over to the table, where his friends were all laughing.

"Can't...believe...you...remembered..." Sirius said in between laughs.

* * *

Remus sighed. Those had been the good days. Where he had friends to pull him through rejection, friends who'd help support him and lead him to acceptance. But now all that was gone. James and Lily were gone. Sirius was gone. Peter had betrayed them all. Little Peter, who had been afraid of the dark when he was eighteen. Remus was alone. No one to help him bear rejection, no one to help him bring acceptance. He had to carry on a one man journey. The stars would always be there to guide him, and when the time came, they would accept him as one of them.

THE END

**A/N: Sorry, this story started to get really vague and bad afterwards, but I think my IQ level has dropped by a hundred. I decided to have the great idea and read "My Immortal" - which has rightfully owned its name as the worst fanfiction ever - and I cannot think straight now. **

**Meh. Aside from that, how many of you got to the end of this story (redundant, if you are reading this.)? Well, you have just received the honour of being allowed to click the review button. Come on! Please... "My Immortal" has got more reviews than my stories :(**


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